Saturday, December 31, 2011

This is my final entry for 2011, a moist chocolate cake by Donna Hay, cake was named Chocolate Buttermilk Layer. Originally the cake should be four layer, like the one highlighted in Australia Master Chef Program, but I made it two layer, easy to manage and for the topping I used ganache.

This chocolate cake is a big hit...many had tried, it's rich zesty-chocolaty sensation!

My goodness...I just don't know where I got all the energy to bake and decorate two cakes at the same time. May be I love cooking and baking so much that I forgot I'm too old for all these. Anyway today 31st December 2011 is the final day of 2011 and today also happens to be my son the one and only son that I have birthday. My son Oden turns 20 today...my goodness, how time flies so fast. I remembered I have to be in labor for two days and almost exhausted and the doctor suggested that I went for caesarean, there's no way that my son could come out naturally. My god after two days of labor pain I finally delivered my son the one and only son through caesarean. His the jewel of my life and happy and glad he is doing well in his life. He will completing his studies in motorsport in June and insyallah will pursue with his degree in New Zealand. I hope and pray he will be successful in life and always be in the blessing of Allah.

Besides Zainuddin, we also will be celebrating Tyca's my No:3 daughter belated birthday. Tyca's birthday was 30th November, she's 18 and currently pursuing her study in Foundation Science. I hope she can make to medical school though she preferred to be an engineer. my wish at least one doctor in the house. She was away during her birthday and I just made and sent her a simple chocolate peppermint cupcake so today I compensated her with her favourite chocolate cake just to be fair to all. I made Chocolate Mud Cake, by my favourite food stylist Donna Hay. Recipe adapted from chocolate mud cakeThe mud cake is dense and rich with a deep-chocolate flavour and truly decadent with the smooth, dark-chocolate ganache. I'm not good in decorating cake...so I just prepare the chocolate ganache with store bought sweet pink flower..pink sweet for sweet 18. As for Oden I baked him Donna Hay 4 layer's Chocolate Buttermilk Cake also adapted from chocolate-buttermilk-layer-cake - for recipe please see next. ha..ha...birthday boy has to cut the cake first before I could make the entry.

Place the butter, chocolate, coffee, vanilla extract and water in a saucepan over low heat and stir until melted. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

Using a fine-mesh sieve, sift the flour and cocoa into a small bowl. Repeat an additional 2 times.

Place the eggs and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and beat for 6 minutes or until pale and thick. Add the chocolate mixture and beat until combined.

Using a large spatula, fold through the flour-cocoa mixture.

Pour into the lightly greased baking tin. Bake for 1 hour 30 minutes or until cooked when tested with a skewer*. *See recipe notes.

Allow to cool in the baking tin for 10 minutes. Turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

*Recipe Notes

Donna Hay’s Cake Baking Tips - How do I tell when my cake is ready?

(Donna Hay Magazine – 50th Issue Birthday)

“To test if a cake is perfectly baked, insert a skewer into the centre. If the skewer emerges clean, the cake is ready. This method works for most cakes, but will do more harm than good to a sponge cake, which relies on trapped air for its feather-light texture. To test a sponge, press down lightly on the top of the cake with your fingertips, if it springs back up, it’s ready. To test mud cake, insert a skewer into the centre; it will emerge coated in cake. Roll the cake from the skewer on your fingertips, if it balls and feels tacky, it’s time to take the cake out of the oven.”

Dark Chocolate Ganache

(from Donna Hay Magazine – 50th Issue Birthday)

1 cup (250 ml) single (pouring) cream

300 g (12 ounces) dark chocolate, chopped

Place the cream and chocolate in a small saucepan over low heat and stir until melted and smooth. Set aside and allow to cool to room temperature.

This blueberry banana walnut loaf is bursting with blueberries and banana. You will definitely love this tangy delicious quick bread. It's a cake like loaf similar to pound cake and make it perfect for breakfast and Tea.

Sift flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, nutmeg, and baking powder into a medium sized bowl. Using a fine sieve, working over the bowl, toss blueberries with 2 teaspoons of the flour mixture to coat. Set blueberries and flour mixture aside.

Friday, December 30, 2011

I've made a couple of blueberry muffins before and recently I just wanted to try something different. I did my block walking and I stumbled into a few blogs acclaimed that the best blueberry muffins that they have made was from Donna Hay - the judge from Australia Master Chef. Amazingly most that had tried Donna Hay muffins made the same remark - THE BEST EVER BLUEBERRY MUFFINS. Wow..hearing that made me wanna try too. Since blueberry is cheap nowadays...I bought a few packet and adventure to this new journey of DONNA HAY cooking excitement.

Browse through the recipe, I noticed that it was really simple..in fact once you made it, you will definitely memorize the recipe easily and the next time you wanna make it you dont have to refer to the recipe book any more, it's all stack in your brain already..it's so easy and so simple. My goodness, it's perfectly soft inside and deliciously crunchy outside.

One thing unique about this recipe, you don't have to limit yourself to just blueberry, you can use strawberry, blackberry, cranberry, peach, apricot and anything you like It fits all....so this can be your basic muffins recipe

On the same day I made two blueberry dish, one this muffin and the other one I used some ripe banana for my blueberry banana loaf. Look's like it's berries month for PATYSKITCHEN. I baked, I cooked and prepared lots of berries menu this month ...it's CHEAP now...hurry up rush to get this before the price shoot up again in the the next few week. This is the best ever blueberry muffins that I've tried beside Martha Stewart so don't miss the chance TRY THIS !!!!!

Blueberry Muffins

(Adapted from Donna Hay)

2½ cups
(375g) self-raising flour, sifted

1 teaspoon
baking powder

1 cup (220g)
caster sugar

½ cup
(125ml) vegetable oil

1 egg

½ cup
(125ml) milk

1 teaspoon
vanilla extract

300g fresh
or frozen blueberries

granulated
sugar, for sprinkling

Method

1. Preheat
oven to 180°C (350°F).

2. Place the
flour, baking powder and sugar in a bowl. Place the oil, egg, milk and vanilla
in a separate bowl and whisk to combine.

3. Pour the
liquid ingredients into the dry ingredients and mix until just combined. Add
the blueberries and mix to combine.

4. Spoon
mixture into a 12-hole ½-cup capacity (125ml) muffin tin lined with paper patty
cases. Sprinkle the tops with sugar and bake for 30–35 minutes or until cooked
when tested with a skewer. Remove from tin and cool on a wire rack.

In Israel, the dish has been said to challenge hummus and falafel as a national favourite, especially in the winter. It is traditionally served up in a cast iron pan with bread to mop up the sauce.[3]According to some food historians, the dish was invented in the Ottoman Empire, spreading throughout the Middle East and Spain, where it is often served with spicy sausage. Another belief is that it hails from Yemen, where it is served with zhug, a hot green paste.[3] - Wikipedia

Shakshouka is similar to the Turkish dish menemen, and the Mexican breakfast dish huevos rancheros. In fact it's a popular dish among the Middle Eastern Shaksuka is a poached egg dish. Basically, it starts out with a tomato sauce, with diced tomatoes. Then two or three eggs are laid on top of the sauce. The whole dish is then put into the oven until the eggs are done. Usually the eggs are well done but you can ask for less time on the eggs and you will have sunny-side-up style floating in a bath of tomato sauce - DELICIOUS !Sauce can be made in a advance to be reheated at the time that eggs are done.

See you don't have to be in Tel Aviv to try, you can make it at home, it's simple, anyway you can find this dish any where in middle eastern, Tunisia, Moroccon and even Turki. Try this you will definitely love. It's a HIT at home and my kids love this with Penang Roti Benggali..you can serve with any bread.

Add tomato
juice and vegetable broth and bring to a full boil. Reduce heat to low and
simmer, uncovered, until mixture is very thick and has little liquid left,
about 1 hour; stir occasionally to make sure vegetables do not stick to bottom
of pan, and add more tomato juice or vegetable broth as needed. Taste and
season with salt and pepper.

Gently crack
eggs into pan, taking care not to break yolks. Simmer until whites solidify but
yolks remain runny, about 8 minutes, or as per personal preference (I would put
this under the broiler for a couple more minutes because I hate undercooked
eggs).

Ladle equal
portions of vegetables and eggs into 4 serving bowls. Sprinkle with zaatar to
taste, and serve with warm pita bread.

Thursday, December 29, 2011

Not very happy with my chocolate souffles I made another try. This time with durian - Malaysia King of fruits. I hope this time my souffles could rise high. I'm so happy when I saw it in the oven...I thought this time I really made it. Took a few shot and before I could really get a good shot my souffles flop down. OMG I failed again!!!!! I stumbled into Pumpkin souffles recipe and made a tweak by using durian..so happen that my friend sent over very nice durian, have some extra and for curiosity sake I made this.

It's not bad!!!!!!, the texture and taste of this souffles reminiscent durian cheese cake. It's lovely and delectable. Thought it taste good I'll still need an answer as why my souffles flopped after a few minutes removed from the oven. Thank God I'll finally found the answer to my failure. I've opened up the oven door during the baking period. It's a DON'T when the souffle is in the oven. I also found out that "souffle" in French means breath.... so it's very important to give some air. It's interesting I've learned some very important tips on souffle from http://www.easy-french-food.com/souffle-recipes.html. I've extracted some of the information ans you can go through it. It's important that you understand the Do's and Don't if you want to have high rise and beautiful souffles.

DURIAN SOUFFLE

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups durian puree

1/2 cup sugar + 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup half and half

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

Separate Eggs. Separate the eggs into two clean mixing bowls. The egg
whites should go into a metal bowl. Allow the eggs to come to room temperature
for 20 minutes.

Prepare Ramekins. Preheat the oven to 375°F (190°C). Prepare 8
individual serving ramekins by coating them with melted butter. An easy way to
do this is to place a teaspoon of butter in one ramekin and melt it in the
microwave (make sure the ramekin is microwave safe before doing this). Then use
a pasty brush to distribute the butter and coat the other ramekins.

Beat Egg Whites. Add the 1/4 teaspoon of cream of tartar to the egg
whites. Using a hand held electric whisk, begin whisking the egg whites on low.

As the egg whites begin increasing in volume, gradually increase the speed of
the mixer. When the egg whites form soft peaks, gradually add in the 1/4 cup of
sugar. Continue beating until the egg whites are stiff and shiny.

Fold in Egg Whites. Blend about a cup of the egg whites with the
pumpkin mixture to lighten it up. Add the rest of the egg whites on top of the durian mixture, and use a rubber spatula to gently fold in the egg whites. Do
this with a light touch and quickly - no more than a minute of folding should
be needed. If it looks like there are some areas that are not blended, don't
worry.

Fill and Bake Ramekins. Use a ladle to gently fill the ramekins with
the egg mixture. Place all of the ramekins on a cookie tray and place the tray
in the oven. Bake for 17 minutes at 375°F (190°C) - no peeking!

Serve. Remove from the oven and serve immediately. If you place the
ramekins on small plates they will be easier to serve and you will save your
table top.

Makes 8 mini souffles.

Tips for Souffle Recipes - from Easy French Food

Souffles present little difficulty for the average home cook despite their mystic. Here are a few tips to guarantee success.

Work with warm whites. Crack and separate the eggs into two bowls, then let the eggs come to room temperature for at least 20 minutes. Cold egg whites don't whip well.

Avoid fat. In order to incorporate air, egg whites should have no trace of fat. It is essential that the egg whites go into a very clean bowl and that they contain absolutely no yolk. Also to avoid getting any oil from your hands, it is best to use the shell to shell method of separation.

Use a metal bowl. Beat the egg whites in a metal cul-de-poule mixing bowl for best results. This sort of bowl gives the whites something to cling to as they rise. They should increase their volume by 7 or 8 times.

Learn to fold. And the only way to learn is to fold. Lighten the batter portion of your recipe by mixing in a good cup or so of egg whites before beginning the folding process. Then place the egg whites on top of the lightened batter. Cut through the egg whites with the edge of a rubber spatula and all the way to the bottom of the bowl. Then scrap up the batter from the bottom and fold it onto the top. Give the bowl a slight turn and repeat the process: cut, fold, turn. Don't overdo folding - it should only take a minute or so to achieve a very light, yet blended batter. Practice definitely makes perfect.

Preheat. Preheat your oven to the correct temperature. If a souffle is subjected to changes in temperature during baking, it will fall immediately and irrevocably, which is also the reason for the next, well known tip.

No peeking. Don't open the oven door until you are ready to take the souffle out. This takes a leap of faith that the recipe and your oven are not going to let you down, but it really is the golden rule of souffle making.

Serve immediately. Serve your souffle immediately upon removing it from the oven. Let your diners know in advance so that they are all perched at the table and ready. That way they'll get to see your masterpiece before it falls, which will take about five minutes. A tasty reminder of the evanescence of all things.

Try something different. For an impressive and fun change, try making your souffles in individualsouffle dishes.

Anything about chicken at home is always a hit. I don't know why children love chicken so much. Today I'm going to share with you oat crusted chicken that I made some times ago. The crust is made with ground up oatmeal and Parmesan cheese.I usually make this using skinless, boneless chicken breasts--seems to be the healthiest way to go.

I serve it with french fries, buns and fresh salad. This is one of those recipes that has evolved over the years. It's crunchy and tasty. As for the sauce anything fit in but the favourite one at hot of course is chili sauce, it makes my life...I don't have to think

Place chicken in large, shallow baking dish coated with cooking spray. Pat the oat mixture into the chicken gently; this helps it make contact with the olive oil to help the coating brown and crisp. If it looks dry, give it a light coating of cooking spray.

Bake uncovered for approx. 20-25 minutes until an instant-read thermometer registers an internal temperature of 165 degrees. Remove from oven, and let chicken rest for 5-10 minutes to allow juices to settle. These freeze well.

*Include these herbs if you prefer an Italian flavor.

Note's from the cook

If you wish to deep fry the chicken you can opt the same method except before you coat the chicken with oats/ dip the chicken with eggs then roll over oats and deep fry it.

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ABOUT ME - THE LANDLORD

A HR Practitioner by profession, a mother of four lovely daughter and a son, a sister of 5 siblings,and an ordinary person with strong passion in cooking.I welcome all of you to my kitchen and share the cooking experience together. My hope is to inspire working mum and teens to get in the kitchen. It is a good therapy for bonding good relationship between moms and daugther. HAPPY COOKING and enjoy the JOY and PLEASURE of being your home CHEF.